As someone who has read a few dozen books on homeschooling (everything from unschooling to classical, Montessori to Charlotte Mason), I find it takes a bit of effort to read a general beginners' book with fresh eyes.

The Homeschooling Handbook was most recently revised in 1999. My only quibble is that a 3rd edition hasn't been released in the 8 years since, rendering the resource list somewhat out-of-date (as a point of reference, consider the first edition of The Well-Trained Mind hadn't even been released). Other than that, I found The Homeschooling Handbook to be informative enough on the most basic topics (without overwhelming the beginner with too much information), calm and reassuring, and even a pleasure to read in and of itself.

Griffith covers legal issues, how to fit homeschooling into family life (even housework), ways that different families go about learning at children's various ages, etc. Where the book really shines is in its conversational (but never condescending) tone and quoting at length from a wide variety of interviewed families. If this were the first book on homeschooling I'd ever read, I'd walk away from it confident and eager to learn more (there are quite a few very good books recommended in the resource section, even though there's nothing since 1999).

Although I feel this book has something for everyone (each section features voices from school-at-home, eclectic, and unschooling families), school-at-home types might wish to know the author's unschooling bias comes through a tad, although I would encourage would-be homeschoolers of all stripes to read this as it's the best primer I've yet read. ( )